Oct. 6—ANDERSON — Dakoda Armstrong defended his victory in the ninth annual Tony Elliott Classic on Saturday night but was not elated in victory lane.
Armstrong prevailed in the penultimate race for the 500 Sprint Car Tour at Anderson Speedway, but felt bad for how he won over Billy Wease.
Wease took over the point when early race-leader Kyle O’Gara’s night ended on Lap 40 with a mechanical issue.
O’Gara started from the pole position after the top-six qualifiers, led by Chris Neuenschwander, set the fast time.
Wease was challenging O’Gara from the start with Armstrong running third and points leader Kody Swanson holding down the fourth spot.
Neuenschwander’s night ended on Lap 21.
The race was red-flagged on Lap 45 when Cole Sink broke a rear axle on the front straight and collected the sixth-place running car of Jackson Macenko.
For the next 31 laps, Armstrong kept the pressure on Wease, looking for a way to take the lead, with Swanson, Bobby Santos III and Tyler Roahrig rounding out the top five.
On Lap 77, Armstrong made contact with the rear nerf bar of Wease’s car, causing the leader to spin in Turn 3.
From there, Armstrong survived one additional restart on Lap 89, when David Goodwill, spun to claim the victory over Swanson and Santos. Roahrig came home in fourth, and Wease recovered to finish fifth.
“He was doing such a good job of holding the bottom,” Armstrong said of Wease in the Riley & Sons Victory Lane. “I just wanted to move him up off the bottom and got into him a little too hard.”
Armstrong said he had a car good enough to win
Ryan Huggler won both Kenyon Midget features to claim the 2024 championship.
Logan Huggler took the lead at the start, with his brother Ryan moving into the second spot and Landon Brown running third in the first feature race.
Ryan Huggler took the lead from his brother on Lap 4 and opened up a comfortable lead.
Dameron Taylor moved into the third spot on Lap 8, and Evan Hammond moved around both Jase Petty and Brown to claim the fourth spot.
Ryan Huggler took the lead from Hammond on the 11th circuit in the second feature and drove to a two-second win, with Petty coming home in third followed by Taylor and Jett Neal.
For the fourth time in his career, John Robbins won the Fritz/Dietzen Memorial race for the Legends division drivers.
Robbins started on the outside of the front row and held off fast-qualifier Sam Johnson for most of the race. Johnson got loose with three laps remaining, which allowed Xavier King to claim the runner-up position.
Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.
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